


The Courtship Habits of the Red-Winged Falcon

by machine_dove



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 12:51:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6705151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machine_dove/pseuds/machine_dove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam has game.  Just, not when it counts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Courtship Habits of the Red-Winged Falcon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sproings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sproings/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Road to Courage (By Way of San Francisco)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6323716) by [Sproings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sproings/pseuds/Sproings). 



He was somewhere around 3500 feet and still in free-fall when he realized exactly what he had just done.  Mentally facepalming took another 500 feet, and he indulged in a long, drawn-out groan of mortification that was swallowed by the wind rushing past until he had to deploy his chute.  

Landing and taking care of his gear didn’t take nearly long enough.  The closest they had been able to safely land was nearly ten klicks out from their target, a long, hard hike through heavy brush and rugged terrain, and he knew that Riley wasn’t going to let a single step of the trip go by without a thorough and in-depth examination of exactly how badly he had fucked up.

“Sam, Sammy, Smooth Sam the Motown Man, nice moves up there,” Riley opened with as soon as they met at the rendezvous point.

Sam just shook his head.  “Man, you have never sounded so white.  Shut up, you’re embarrassing yourself.”

“I am totally okay with that, and you know why?”

“I don’t even want to know, man.”

Riley grinned, movie-star-straight teeth gleaming.  “Because I can’t possibly embarrass myself more than you’ve already done today.  You set the bar high, Wilson.”

Sam just groaned as he resettled his pack.  “Shut the hell up, cornfed.”

“Nope.  No, I am never, ever letting you live this one down.”

Six goddamned miles in, nearly eight miles out to the pickup point where even more humiliation would be waiting.  Fuck.  “You know, there are lots of great places out here to hide a body.  I’m just throwing that out there.”

Riley laughed, bright and unconcerned.  “Then I’ll know what to do with yours when you become the first person to die of complete and utter humiliation.”

 

* * *

The hike was just as bad as Sam had anticipated, and the razzing didn’t end when they finally reached the point where Major Olivia Hook was holed up.  No, now that he had an audience, Riley had actually gotten worse.

“So there we are,” he’s telling Hook, “all suited up and ready to jump, when this dumb-ass just shouts out ‘HEY DANVERS, GO ON A DATE WITH ME,’ and then jumps out of the damn plane.  Doesn’t give her a chance to respond or nothin’, just jumps out of the fuckin’ plane.  The look on her face!  This is the greatest day of my life, I swear to god.”

Sam picked up his pace, hoping that the added speed would be enough to get them to save their damn oxygen for the hike.  Unfortunately, it seemed like Major Hook was as dedicated to her fitness regime as Riley was, and just as entertained by the story, so it didn’t have much of an effect.

“Seriously, Wilson here acts like he has game, but the second we stepped onto that plane he took one look at the pilot and was tripping over his tongue.  It was the funniest goddamned thing I have ever seen.”

“Hey, I have seen your dumbass pickup lines in action, don’t even pretend like you have game,” Sam shot back over his shoulder.

“I do just fine,” Riley said smugly, “And I have never once called one of my prospective dates mom.”

If Sam was as pasty-pale as his asshole wingman, he’d be the color of a lobster right now.  He didn’t know what it was about Danvers, but one look had been enough for him to fall fast and hard, and he’d spent the entire flight out tripping over his own damn tongue and giving Riley enough material to mock him for the rest of their goddamned lives.

Still, Riley wasn’t the only one who could be an asshole.  Sam stepped up the pace still more into a fast jog.  “Keep up, slowpokes.  Last one to the rendezvous point’s buying the first round!”

The helicopter was waiting for them right where it was supposed to be, but the tall, blonde pilot lounging against the side of it wasn’t the one scheduled for the op.  Sam almost tripped over his own feet when he realized who it was.

“Smooth,” Riley said as he clapped Sam on the back.  “Now go get it, Wilson!”

They slowed their pace, letting Sam go on ahead.  He kind of felt like he was walking to his doom, and for once had absolutely no idea of what he was going to say.

Lucky for him, Danvers didn’t seem nearly as tongue-tied.  “I figured I should talk to you before we got off the ground,” she said, eyes sparkling with humor.  “Not quite as far to fall if you decide to jump again.”

“I am never going to live that down, am I?”  Sam just shook his head, running one hand across the back of his neck.  

“Nope,” she said with a smile, “but if you’re still interested I know a great steakhouse in town.”

“Hmmm,” Sam said reluctantly, but his grin gave him away.  “I have to get to bed early.  Beauty sleep, you know.  I’m not sure this bucket of bolts here’s going to get us back to base in time.”

“It’s like that, is it?”  Danver’s eyes flashed.

“It’s definitely like that,” Sam responded, leaning closer.

“Well, then,” she said, “I suppose I’d better show you exactly how good I am at flying this thing.  Strap in, Wilson, you’re in for the ride of your life.”


End file.
